Bank Staff Stops Elderly Man Transferring Money to Scammers, Avoiding $400,000 Loss

A National Australia Bank (NAB) customer advisor recently helped an elderly man who fell victim to investment scam and avoided a $400,000 loss.

Bob (not a real name), a man in his 70s, recently made a new friend, who recommended an investment scheme and promised to bring him a 20% return in a term. So, in order to “invest”, the old man sold his shares and intended to transfer $440,000 to the fraudsters through a National Australia Bank branch.

However, the bank's customer advisor Erin Browning heard Bob's story and immediately realized that something was wrong, “alarm bells started ringing straight away.”

Erin believed that such huge deposit was the most obvious red flag, and the person offering investment advice to the elderly only said she was “Susie,” not a genuine organization.

Erin then searched for the so-called investment scheme and found no public contact number for the company, and even the ABN number didn't match.

She said, “It sounded like Bob had been coached. It was all a bit strange.”

Erin contacted the bank's anti-scam department when she realized the anomaly and told the elderly man he couldn't transfer the money. The old man was initially resistant to her advice, but gradually he realized something was wrong.

In Australia, investment SCAM has caused the most serious losses to locals, more than any other type of scam. Chris Sheehan, NAB group investigations general manager, said, “investment scams are among the top scams impacting our customers.”

Sheehan said common red flags include unsolicited investment opportunities, social media advertisements, claims of beating inflation, unusually high interest rates and advisers without an Australian Financial Services (AFS) license.

“If it appears too good to be true, it probably is,” he added.